Holland Christian boys basketball tops West Ottawa

With his three seniors playing their final home game of the season, Holland Christian boys basketball coach Kevin Koeman was waiting for one of them to step up and make a memorable exit. Senior forward Jon Hop scored all of his 11 points in the second half, including nine points on three 3-pointers in ...

With his three seniors playing their final home game of the season, Holland Christian boys basketball coach Kevin Koeman was waiting for one of them to step up and make a memorable exit.

Senior forward Jon Hop scored all of his 11 points in the second half, including nine points on three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, to help lift the Maroons past West Ottawa 66-51 on Tuesday at the Holland Civic Center.

Hop had misfired on his first nine attempts and finished the game 3-for-15 from long range, but it was his hot hand that ignited a 25-point fourth quarter and extended Holland Christian's winning streak to six games. The Maroons are 9-10 after a 1-8 start.

“It really does help in the second half when he buries three of them like that,” Koeman said. “That was a huge momentum thing for us. Shooters keep shooting and we say that as coaches, but we have to believe that, too.

“When he hit that first one his face just kind of said, 'Whew, relief.'”

Hop said he was getting a bit impatient, but he wasn't about to stop firing away.

“I wasn't going to stop shooting the ball,” Hop said. “On senior night, it's always fun to get a big crowd like this and everyone's excited and it's fun to entertain them.”

The Maroons also got what Koeman called a “nice night” from junior forward Kyle Steigenga who fashioned a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

“We want to send our seniors out on top,” Steigenga said. “It's a fun atmosphere with a rival and it's great to get the win. Hop hitting those shots always helps get the crowd up.”

Holland Christian led 28-25 at halftime after West Ottawa scored the final five points of the second quarter. Steigenga got the crowd fired up when he scored on an alley-oop slam dunk (from Hop) to start the third quarter, then added a layup following a steal by Max Wierda.

West Ottawa regained the lead a short time later, but the Maroons ended the third quarter with a Nate Walters free throw and a driving layup by Hop for a 41-38 advantage.

Hop's first 3-pointer was part of an 8-0 run that extended the Holland Christian lead to nine points. His second 3-pointer was followed by Jared Dykstra's layup and the Maroons maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

The outcome spoiled PJ Trammell's 17-point effort and a career-best 14 points from Stanley Brown for West Ottawa (7-12).

“For us to be good we've got to have a lot of guys playing well and one of our struggles is we're not getting enough positive minutes from enough guys,” West Ottawa coach Jeff VanFossan said after his team's skid reached six games. “That being said, PJ played excellent and Stanley really stepped up and played well, but that's just not enough.”